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Weapons
Statistics, descriptions and lore for weapons in various RP settings can be found here. Medieval Weapons are largely obsolete and obscured in myths and misconceptions in our time and day. The fantasy section seeks to clear up a lot of archaic weapon functions. It doesn't actually hold any stats. The Spage Age Science Fiction section contains high-tech weaponry, as ordinary weapon stats can already be found in the D10 Revised section. Space Age Science Fiction Some of these weapons may be setting specific. Vibro Weaponry Vibro weaponry is normal melee weaponry that sends ultrasonic vibrations through the, already mono-molecular blade, made of incredibly lightweight material. The blade is then covered in a magnetic field making it practically indestructible. One might initially think that such a sword of ultimate power would make one king of the world, until one realizes that, there's little difference between getting your hand cut off in a single cut with a high-tech sword, than there is if it was to happen with a rusty shovel. The main difference is actually that these weapons have the ability to cut through even advanced armor granting them an armor piercing rating of 2. Void Weaponry Void Weaponry is specially designed for vacuum and zero-gee use, and have essentially no recoil. It fires gyrojet rounds that cannot penetrate ordinary ship equipment plating. One might wonder what the point of this is, when people using it also have access to plasma weaponry and other interesting goods. Plasma weaponry, being the default combat weapons in the Space Age Science Fiction era, are practically useless in space, because the vacuum of space has no pressure and is almost as cold as physically possible, and Plasma relies on thermal energy to deal damage. Laser Weaponry functions much better in space than anywhere else, but is notoriously weak when it comes to the hand-held weapon variants. Void Weaponry, thus, finds a niche, being the preferred weapon types of astronauts, spacers and Space Marines. Notice the picture, essentially a magazine fed revolver, that reloads the drum with a special cover to conceal the drum. Pulling the cock back results in the drum spinning until it finds the empty socket, which is then reloaded. Void Weaponry has no armor piercing capability, which is why it naturally relies on being fairly big chambered as it is. Priced at x2 the rate of normal weaponry, the ammunition is the true expense of void weaponry, going for x3 as much, because each projectile is actually a small charged rocket with a ceramic projectile attached. When shopping for Void Weaponry, only the two heaviest variants of the weapons found below are available, for instance "Heavier- and Heaviest Revolver". Autoloader variants are not available, but larger automatic weapons are, but are stylized as miniature gattling weaponry or weaponry with drum magazines. The Void Weaponry relies on the drum rolls, because in order to eliminate the recoil, the energy released from the projectile has to go somewhere. Mag Weaponry Mag weaponry involves the magnetic acceleration of metal flechettes. Railguns to be exact. Mag ammunition is packaged with integral power supplies, so no additional power cells are necessary to fire these weapons. Essentially, the magazine is a block of metal with a battery attached, and the rifle then shaves the the block of metal into elongated needles and fires them with incredible power. When shopping for Mag Weaponry, only the two lightest versions of the weapon type you're shopping for is available, for instance, "Light and Medium Pistol". Revolvers and actual Shotguns are not available in Mag Variant. Mag Weapons have an armor piercing quality of 2, but are difficult to use in Zero-G environment due to their incredible recoil (requires a pair of mag-boots - and even then, the weapons are reduced to single-shot function). The quality of the weapons is their ability to penetrate Armor, and this quality is lost when one attempts to chamber too large rounds. Accommodating for the loss of armor piercing quality would require the weapon to increase in recoil so dramatically that it's no longer possible to use them as carried weaponry. Mag Weaponry is a popular choice with military forces, because they function in many environments and are cheaper than plasma weaponry and retains longer ranges. The projectiles fired by mag weaponry is often laced in phosphor and glows when it flies towards it's target, this is because the needle projectiles are so small that it's difficult to adjust the aim according to where the projectile lands. The function can be switched off, preventing the weapon from igniting the phosphor though. The Spike Thrower The Spike Thrower is made when people read the above description of Mag Weaponry, and go "what the hell can go wrong" and try to make the weapon fire even large projectiles, and actually manage to, marginally succeed. The Spike Thrower isn't sold commercially, and can only barely be considered a man carried weapon. The Spike-Thrower launches almost a quarter of a block of metal which hits a laser grid inside the weapon, cutting the block into needles, which are then fired with the same power as a single shot normally is. This results in multiple projectiles being fired at once, instead of firing one bigger projectile. Essentially, the Spike Thrower becomes a shotgun variant of mag-weaponry, but the powerful jolt from the block of metal being shoved forward causes recoil both ways when the gun fires, making it incredibly difficult to wield. Some say that it's actually only because the recoil IS both ways that it even is possible. The Spike Thrower requires much more power than a normal mag weapon, and as such needs it's own Type B Power Cell or a butt load of Type A Power Cells, stored on a rod in the stock of the weapon. The projectiles fired by the Spike Thrower are much less stable than those fired by a normal mag weaponry, which carves the block of metal into aerodynamic needles, where as the spike thrower just hurls a fistful of wobbly metal splinters at it's target. These splinters require a much larger mag-array to launch, otherwise half the spikes would fire out in all directions with barely any power and this creates the scatter effect of the spikes, making the most useful at close distance, but giving a good chance of hitting someone without much aiming involved. But as mentioned, the spikes are much more unstable, and this means they eventually curl up into balls or spirals, rendering them ineffective (but still unpleasant) as projectiles. The average spike thrower has a maximum range of 50 meters, but anything beyond 25 meters is half damage. The spike thrower deals a whopping 5 damage with two points of armor piercing, but requires 4 points of strength to use. The spikethrower cannot be used to aim with, it's too inaccurate, so a point and shoot system is used, again making it largely ineffective at larger ranges should it have been able to shoot that far. Energy Weaponry Laser Weaponry has long been a dream of Science Fiction authors. Unfortunately, while it has been realized, some still consider it to be a dream in some ways. Laser Weaponry requires too much power to be effective infantry weapons, and while it's the bread and butter of any space vehicle defense systems, it's largely impossible to make an effective laser weapon for infantry forces. Of course, that hasn't stopped anyone from trying, and the results aren't bad, but quite expensive. Laser pistols and laser Carbines are the most common type of energy weapon. The phased multifrequency beam is capable of penetrating any ordinary mist or haze, but a thick cloud of thermally-resistant particulate matter such as ash or sand can seriously degrade the beam, applying up to a -4 penalty to hit and cutting ranges in half. Infantry Laser weapons have incredibly long range, and seeing as they are beam-weapons, they count as auto-fire weapons, but have no recoil. Despite totally inferior damage, they can still be somewhat lethal, because of their ability to auto-fire without recoil. When shopping laser weaponry, only two variants are available, Small- and Medium SMG. The Medium SMG is used for Carbines, where as the small SMG is used for Pistols. Laser Weaponry has ranges further than what can be considered useful, and there is no bullet drop to account for. Ignore the concepts of weapon rage when using laser weaponry. Laser Weaponry is very expensive, adding x4 to the price. Auto-fire with a recoil-less beam weapon What a specific headline! This probably only applies to laser weapons, but you never know! By spending more ammunition (power) for your laser rifle, you can increase your chances of dealing damage greatly. A laser weapon can reasonably spend 3 shots worth of energy on a single beam in a round, giving a plus 3 to the dice roll. When shopping laser weaponry, only automatic weaponry is available, and only the weakest variants. Laser SAW The Laser SAW is a powerful and very heavy beam weapon fed from a Type B Power Cell carried as a backpack. The Weapon fires powerful beams that tears through most things in a matter of seconds. The weapon is very clumsy and to heavy to effectively count on being very agile in the field. Soldiers using these often combine them with Assault Suits, so that they can survive being caught in the open. The most common Squad Automatic Weapon in use by far. The weapon can fire 100 separate "rays", which boils down to 33 burst fires for the math savvy. It deals a whopping 5 lethal, but has no armor piercing qualities. The weapon requires a strength of 4 to use effectively, and is practically impossible to use effectively in cover, as it's just not made for agility in the field. It works best when being fired from a stable platform, or in the open. The user takes a -2 penalty to athletic defense, and depends on a luck roll or the Story Teller's discretion to see if they can effectively use their weapon from cover. Laser Sniper The Laser Sniper expends an entire magazine of the type normally used for a Laser Weapon, to fire a single shot. That one shot deals 5 lethal however. Unlike the Laser SAW, this weapon only requires a strength of two to use (and even then, only on account of having a long barrel) and is no where near as clumsy. Fairly good for assassinations. Very bad for close quarter combat. Plasma Weaponry The bread and butter of personal defense in the modern times. Thermal pistols and their larger, two-handed plasma projector cousins replace the beam of a laser with a small sphere of magnetically-shaped plasma. The spheres tend to dissipate at much shorter ranges than a laser beam, but do significantly more damage to targets within range and are not affected by ambient particulates. A favorite among those seeking to defend themselves, because the weapon works against everyone, does minimal property damage and is incredibly lethal, despite having limited range. Plasma Weaponry deals good damage ratings, and while they don't have armor piercing qualities like Mag weapons, it deals more inherent damage and the real deal-sealer of the plasma arsenal is the notorious after-burn effect. Even targets who's armor wasn't penetrated by the plasma shot will be roasted inside their own armor by the plasma projectile. When a target soaks damage from a plasma weapon, the damage is converted to bashing and is still dealt. Armored under-suits offer moderate protection against the after-burn effect, but the weapons are still incredibly effective against armored targets. When shopping for plasma weapons, shotguns and revolvers are not available, and due to their relatively short ranges, Sniper variants are also not available. Otherwise, between Autoloaders, SMGs and Assault Rifles, there's free picks (The Rifle/Large Assault Rifle is unvailable as it represents a sniper). Remove the "long" and "medium" ranges of plasma weaponry, half the short range (round up), and replace the short range with this number, use former short range as medium range and double it for long range. Plasma Weaponry is useless in Zero-G environements because of the lack of pressure to keep the plasma stable, and it's also useless in extreme cold, like in space. Below -150 degrees Celcius, the Plasma weaponry starts to see rapid decrease in usability, with a -1 to damage rating per 10 degrees it drops below -150. Plasma Weaponry is very expensive, adding about a x3 to the price. D10 - Revised The NWOD Revised edition is more or less directly out of the book. 'Ranged Weapons Chart' Use the following order to determine what the values below mean. Type Dmg Ranges Clip Initiative Str Size Availability Example 'Revolver, light ' Firearm, 1L, 20/40/80, 6, 0, 1, 1, ••, SW M640 (.38 Special) (SWN PRICE: 20) 'Revolver, Medium' Firearm, 2L, 25/50/100, 6, 0, 2, 1, ••, Chiappa Rhino (.40 S&W) (SWN PRICE: 50) 'Revolver, Heavy' Firearm, 3L, 30/65/130, 6, −2, 3, 1, ••, Colt Python (.357 Magnum) (SWN PRICE:75) 'Revolver, Heavier' Firearm, 4L, 35/70/140, 6, −3, 3, 1, ••, Smith&Wesson M. 29 (.44 Magnum) (SWN PRICE: 100) 'Revolver, Heaviest' Firearm, 5L, 40/80/160, 5, −4, 4, 1, ••, Smith&Wesson M. 500 (.500 S&W Magnum) (SWN PRICE: 150) 'Pistol, light' Firearm, 1L, 20/40/80, 17+1, 0, 2, 1, •••, Glock 17 (9mm) (SWN PRICE: 30) 'Pistol, Medium' Firearm, 2L, 25/50/100, 15+1, -1, 2, 1, •••, Smith&Wesson M&P (.40 S&W) (SWN PRICE: 75) 'Pistol, Heavy' Firearm, 3L, 30/60/120, 7+1, −2, 3, 1, •••, Colt M1911A1 (.45 ACP) (SWN PRICE: 100) 'Pistol, Heavier' Firearm, 4L, 35/70/130, 9+1, −3, 3, 1, •••, Desert Eagle (.44 Magnum) (SWN PRICE: 150) 'Pistol, Heaviest' Firearm, 5L, 40/80/160, 7+1, −4, 4, 1, ••••, Desert Eagle (.50 Action express) (SWN PRICE: 250) 'SMG, small*' Full-auto firearm, 1L, 25/50/100, 30+1, −2, 2, 1, •••, Ingram Mac-10 (9mm) (150) SMG, Medium* Full-auto firearm, 2L, 50/100/200, 30+1, −3, 3, 2, •••, UMP, (.40 S&W) (SWN PRICE: 200) 'SMG, large*' Full-auto firearm, 3L, 50/100/200, 30+1, −3, 3, 2, •••, UMP, (.45 ACP) (SWN PRICE: 250) 'Rifle (or larger caliber assault rifle)' Firearm, 4L, 200/400/800, 5+1, −5, 2, 3, ••, Remington M-700/AK-47 (.308 Win or 7.62x51 NATO) (SWN PRICE: 75) 'Assault Rifle'* Full-auto firearm, 3L, 150/300/600, 30+1, −3, 3, 3, •••, AR-15 (5.56mm) (SWN PRICE: 300) 'Shotgun**' Firearm, 3L, 20/40/80, 5+1, −4, 2, 2, ••, Remington M870 (12-gauge) (SWN PRICE: 50 Hunting or 300 Combat) 'Crossbow***' String-operated launcher, 2L 40/80/160 1 −5 3 3 ••• 'Damage' Indicates the number of bonus successes added to a successful attack. Firearms deal lethal damage against ordinary people. The type of damage may vary against supernatural opponents. 'Ranges' The listed numbers a short/medium/long ranges in yards. Attacks at medium range suffer a −1 penalty. Attacks at long range suffer a −2 penalty. 'Clip' The number of rounds a gun can hold. A “+1” indicates that a bullet can be held in the chamber, ready to fire.The term is derrived from the word used to describe the oldest forms of rifle magazines, and is actually incorrect to use in this way. 'Initiative' The penalty taken to Initiative when wielding the gun. 'Strength' The minimum Strength needed to use a weapon effectively. A wielder with a lower Strength suffers a −1 penalty on attack rolls. 'Size' 1 = Can be fired one-handed; 2 = Must be fired two-handed and can be hidden in a coat; 3 = Can be fired two-handed but not hidden on one’s person 'Availability' The cost in Resources dots or level of Social Merit needed to acquire the weapon. Melee Weapons Chart Use the following order to determine what the values below mean. Type Damage Initiative Strength Size Availability Special 'Sap' 0, −1, 1, 1, •, Stun 'Brass Knuckles or Sap Gloves' 0L, 0, 1, 1, •, Uses Brawl to attack 'Baton' 1L, −1, 2, 2, n/a 'Crowbar (or similar large blunt tool)' 2L, −2, 2, 2, • 'Tire Iron (or similar small blunt-tool)' 1L, −3, 2, 2, ••, 'Chain' 1L, −3, 2, 2, • Grapple 'Shield (small)' 0L, −2, 2, 2, •• Concealed 'Shield (large)' 2L, −4, 3, 3, •• Concealed 'Combat' Knife 0L, −1, 1, 1, • 'Rapier' 1L, −2, 1, 2, •• Armor piercing 1, +1 melee defense 'Machete' 1L, −2, 2, 2, •• 'Hatchet ' 2L, −2, 1, 1, • +1 armor piercing 'Fire Axe' 3L, −4, 3, 3, ••, +2 armor piercing, two-handed Short-Sword 1L, −1, 1, 2, ••• (Gladius, Viking Sax ect.) One-handed Sword 2L, −2, 2, 3, ••• (Arming Sword, Broad Sword, Viking Sword), +1 melee defense Hand-and-a-half-Sword 2L, −2, 2, 3, •••, -3 L when used two-handed, +1 melee defense Bastard-Sword 4L, −3, 2, 4, •••, two-handed +1 melee defense 'Great-Sword' 5L, −4, 3, 5, •••, two-handed - +1 Reach, +1 melee defense 'Chainsaw ' 5L −6 4 3 ••• 9-again, two-handed 'Stake* ' 0L, −4, 1, none, 1, n/a 'Spear** ' 2L, −2, 2, 4, •, +1 Defense, two-handed, +1 reach 'Type' A weapon’s type is a general classification that can apply to anything your character picks up. A metal club might be an antique mace, a metal baseball bat, or a hammer, while a hatchet might be a meat cleaver or an antique hand-ax. 'Damage ' Indicates the number of bonus successes added to a successful attack. Weapons always deal lethal damage. 'Initiative' The penalty taken to Initiative when wielding the weapon. If using more than one weapon, take the higher penalty and increase by 1. 'Strength ' The minimum Strength needed to use a weapon effectively. A wielder with a lower Strength suffers a −1 penalty on attack rolls. 'Size' 1 = Can be hidden in a hand; 2 = Can be hidden in a coat; 3+ = Cannot be hidden. 'Availability' The cost in Resources dots or level of Social Merit needed to acquire the weapon. 'Concealed' A character who wields a shield but doesn’t use it to attack can add its Size to his Defense, and uses its Size as a concealment modifier against ranged attacks. 'Grapple' Add the chain’s weapon bonus to your dice pool when grappling. 'Stun' Double the weapon bonus for purposes of the Stun Tilt (p. 212). 'Two-handed' This weapon requires two hands. It can be used one-handed, but doing so increases the Strength requirement by 1. Fantasy In this setting, medieval weaponry is still in use. 'Melee Weapons' Melee weapons are designed to increase the reach and lethalty of a person when fighting. In reality, anything from a brick to a corkscrew can be used effectively as a melee weapon, but such weapons are considered improvised weapons (see rules for improvised weapons). This page details propper weapons, and such are usually forged by a black-smith or weapon-smith (a black-smith who specializes in weaponry). 'Polearms ' Polearms are all weapons that feature a long shaft with at least one dangerous end. Typically at least as long as the wielder is high, and such lengths are considered short. The Javelin is an example of a polearm designed for throwing, but most polearms are designed for hunting dangerous animals or formation fighting with shields infront. Long polearms are typically used to defend high-ground or to properly ward off cavalry. Regardless of th lenght of a polearm, they always deal the same damage, but they come in three lenghts: Short, medium and long. Short polearms are usually personal weapons and are not that common in the empire, with the exception of the very wide-spread javelin. The advantage is that they can often be used in one hand effectively. Medium polearms are commonly issues to professional soldiers as a primary weapon and used by guards. Long polearms are usually not permanently issues to anyone, but are often weapons found at certain defensive posts, and while any polearm could be made in the long lenght, the pike is the most common. When using pole-arms against a charging opponent, damage is doubled, and a polearm can be used to prevent a person from attacking from a certain direction, lest they suffer an automatic free attack made against them from the wielder, and if this attack succeeds, the opponent is halted and cannot move closer to the polearm wielder as intended, unless he opts to charge through, in which case he suffers double damage as if he had charged from afar. Short polearms wielded in one hand do not grant "reach" benefits, and medium and long polearms cannot be effectively wielded in one hand. Polearms can effectively be used to prevent an opponent. Polearms can be used to gain an advantage with reach, enabling a fighter to attack an opponent while continously denying him the chance to come close enough to use his own weapon. 'Spear' Everyone knows what a spear is. But for good measure, a spear is essentially just a pointed stick, how ever professionally made spears have a forged spear-tip which resembles a knife-blade. Spears are mainly used by professional pikemen (a spear carrying soldier - despite being called a pikeman, they usually carry spears of medium lenght). Spears deal 2 lethal. Legionaires wield javelins, using them as potential ranged weapons, but primarily using them as one-handed weapons. 'Pike' Most pikes are actually just rafts (typically a tall pine stem deprived of any branches which has had a spear-tip added, or possibly just been sharpened. The long version of any polearm is commonly referred to as a pike, but they are commonly mostly akin to spears. Pikes deal tripple damage against charging opponents, but only deal 1 lethal, due to them being hard to control. Castles usually have pikes in small stands by all wall-towers enabling the defenders to easily pick-off any would-be ladder climbers. 'Halberd & Lucerne hammers' An axe-head with a spear-tip mounted on a shaft. The axe-head serves no purpose in formation combat, but the massive reach of the shaft enables the wielder to use the halberd as a massive great axe, potentially causing 5 lethal, or to use it as a spear (2 lethal). Pike versions of halberds are useless in any other way than acting as a spear with a heavier tip. A lucerne hammer uses the same stats as a halberd, but have a hammer-head instead of an axe-head. Note that the hammerhead causes bashing. Halberds are the signature weapon of guards in the Empire. 'Other polearms' Hundreds of variants exist, most share the stats of the spear. Optionally, some may afford the user a +3 bonus but may also only exist in certain lenghts. 'Blades' The first bladed weapons were knives, also serving as toolds. The sword evolved from the knife and has become a symbol for military, because it's one of the only weapons that exists in the fantasy setting that isn't also used for other purposes (spears and axes for instance are used commonly for hunting and woodcutting). In the Empire, all Soldiers carry Swords, and in a short period of time, it was illegal for private citizens to own swords. Swords also found their way into Imperial culture of nobility, certain types of Swords being symbols of Knighthood and Lordship. 'Daggers' Daggers are self-defence weapons and come in many varieties. They are best used in surprise attacks, as off-hand weapons or when grappling. Daggers deal 1 lethal. Daggers are used by everyone, from thugs to noblemen, serving as back-up weapons of all soldiers employed in the empire (though these daggers also serve as survival knives). Essentially a dagger is just a long knife optimized for combat by having a crossguard and preferably a pommel. 'Shortswords/gladius' The gladius or shortsword is just an evolved dagger, and were the first swords. They are the primary weapons of guards and legionaires, despite the legion currently experimenting with implementing arming swords as replacements with some units. The shortsword is quick to draw and can easily be wielded in one hand (it's too small for two-handed use, being less than a meter in total lenght). Militias in the empire use these weapons as well. Every blacksmith in the empire knows how to forge a propper shortsword. They deal 2 lethal, and can be wielded easily as off-hand weapons. They typically have thick blades, making them rather sturdy. 'Arming Sword' Arming swords are swords between 1 meter and reaching up to just under 1½ meter in blade lenght. Arming swords are typically very pointed and feature blades that slim towards the point, but this is not always the case, the only requirement to be categorized as such is that the sword has the appropriate lenght and weight. Arming swords are typical secondary weapons for cavalry units in the empire, as well as used by NCO's and Officers of all kinds. They deal 3 lethal and are one-handed in use, but make poor off-hand weapons. While better in combat, they are not as durable as shortswords and need more maintainance. 'Longswords' Also called bastard swords, these swords reach blade-lenghts above 1½ meters and while they can be wielded one-handed (dealing 3 lethal) they can also be used two-handed dealing 4 lethal. Longswords are usually very well crafted and durable beyond what can be expected of most swords. They will leave massive dents in other blades and usually survive for many generations. Longswords are not issued to ordinary soldiers, but are symbols of Knighthood and Lordship. Typically a Knight has an ornate Longsword forged and designed for him shortly after being knighted, and noble families pass on heirloom swords to the current head of the family. Usually, a sword is also associated with a title, passing from title-holder to title-holder. When used from horseback in one hand, longswords deal 4 lethal. 'Greatswords' These very rare weapons are massive blades that cannot be properly wielded in one hand. Usually at least 1, 6 m in blade lenght but often larger (depending on the height of the user) cause severe damage (5 lethal) when used in combat. Some nobles have substituted their longswords for greatswords, seeing as these are essentially the same when it comes to sword-wielding techniques, with a few exceptions. Greatswords can be used one-handed from horseback. Greatswords and other slashing weapons with similar reach can completely negate the effect of a polearm being used to prevent advancement from a certain direction. Greatswords are issued to soldiers sometimes, but it's not the most common case. 'Rapiers' Rapiers and other such very modern light-swords deal 2 lethal and can only be used one-handed. Most of them are primarily good for stabbing, and see most use among merchants and academics and other wealthy people. Rapiers are more of a fashion statement than anything else for most users, but especially in some of the south-eastern city-states of the Empire where guns are also seeing more frequent use, they are slowly starting to replace the Longsword as the preferred weapon of the nobles, and also slowly replacing the arming sword among soldiers. 'Hatch-weapons' Hatch-weapons are weapons that are mounted on a short hatch (shorter and usually thicker than a spear-shaft). They are very commonly found as privately owned weapons among farmers and citizens, as well as in the hands of mercenaries and are especially common as primary weapons in military units outside of the empire. Private armies of nobles also often utilize these. Imperial legions always have a few hatch-weapons with them that are distributed among some of the soldiers, in case heavily armored resistance is met, they are thusly carried as extra weapons. 'Axe' Axes come in several shapes and sizes, most are roughly the same lenght as a short sword with a small axe-head, while some more specialized axes are carried by other fighters, with varying lengths. There are very few existing techniques for axe-fighting as axes are best and most effectively used as specialized weaponry, but they do serve nicely as a primary weapon in combat in lieu of a sword despite widely being regarded as inferior to blades. Their main advantage is against armor. One-handed axes deal 2 lethal, two-handed axes deal 3 lethal. 'Mace and hammers' Maces and hammers deal double damage compared to axes, but as bashing damage.They are primarily used against heavily armored opponents. A low-cost alternative is the club or baton, which deals 2 bashing. 'Ranged Weapons' Ranged Weapons started out as hunting tools but quickly found their niché in warfare. All kinds of ranged weapons serve different functions in warfare. 'Bows' The simplest of the ranged weapons, yet the hardest to master. Professional archers are paid more than other soldiers, and apart from those, only hunters know how to properly wield such weapons. Bows come in several sizes. . Archers must be quite strong to effectively fire bows, and strength 4 is required to use either kind of bows (see the archery fighting style however, as this reduces the strength requirement), and further more, "reloading" a bow without propper training takes a turn. Bows deal damage depending on size and type of arrow, and range. 'Short bows' The smallest bows to see regular use are "hunting bows" known mainly as "short-bows". They are quite powerful and made for relatively short-range precision shooting, or for mounted archery. Mounted archery is common among the eastern horse-tribes and the many of the other eastern nations, but fairly uncommon in the empire (although light crossbows see heavy use in the empire from horseback). Any hunter can produce a decent hunting bow, and those are usually just over a meter long when un-stringed. Shortbows are not normally used to take shots beyond 200 meters. 'Longbows' The next size of bow is the longbow, which can also be effectively used as a precision shooting weapon, but longbows are quinte unhandy. On the upside, they have great range, though to the point where the archer cannot properly aim at anything, only roughtly determine his shooting distance. Longbows are used in the military primarily, to unleash volleys of arrows upon enemy units. Longbows have ranges up to 1 km in ideal conditions, obviously it's impossible to aim at all at such lenghts though. 'Crossbows' Crossbows come in many sizes, and are easy to master. They are very lethal and shoot in a very straight line not suited for archers. Crossbows are commonly found in guard-towers used for defence, and distributed among soldiers who use them to reduce the enemy line. Actual crossbow men are rare. The projectile of a crossbow is called a quarrel or a bolt, and is just a short arrow without feathers. 'Hand-crossbows' The smallest crossbows are handheld crossbows, they deal only 1 lethal and cannot fire beyond 100 meters and usually less (25/50/100). They don't see use anywhere in particular. Assassins sometimes use them with poison. 'Light crossbow' The next size, and most common also, is the light-crossbow. It deals 3 lethal and can be used mounted as well as on foot, because it can be fired effectively with one hand (thought not reloaded). As such, a footsoldier can carry a shield and have the crossbow hanging over his shoulder, grabbing it for a quck shot at the enemy line and letting it hang by his side as he grabs his primary weapon that he switched over to his shield hand, and a rider can use pretty much the same technique. 'Heavy Crossbow' Larger yet is the heavy crossbow. They deal 4 lethal and cannot be used in one hand effectively, but they have a very large range. These are almost only found in association with sieges or defences. Heavy-crossbows rely on a metal ring at the nose that the shooter sticks is foot through in order to help reload it. 'Great Crossbow' The final kind of crossbow is the great crossbow. These very rare crossbows are very hard to reload and are so heavy they are usually used with bi-pods or mounted on something. Essentially a small ballista, these have unparalled range among crossbows and deal 5 lethal. These are usually reloaded with a spinning wheel. 'Repeating Crossbow' All crossbows can essentially be built as repeating crossbows, and then function as semi-automatic weapons, but such weapons are usually only found in private collections. 'Gunpowder weapons' Primarily seeing use at sea and in the South-Eastern part of the Empire, for some reason these weapons didn't become quite as popular as one might have expected, but musquets and pistols are slowly finding their way into the arsenal of the wealthier nobles all across the empire. Such weapons deal 5 lethal and have armor-piercing capabilities, but are severely accurate. Pistols suffer -1 when fired two-handed and -2 when fired one-handed by anyone who doesn't have strength 5, and muskets cannot be fired effectively one-handed, but suffer a double range penalties on medium and long range.